Some mandamus stories turn on a single date. This one is about how short the court part can be once someone decides to ask.
G. v. Edlow U.S. District Court, Eastern District of Texas Filed September 18, 2026
USCIS approved the work permit on October 6, 2026, 18 days after we filed in the Eastern District of Texas and before the government ever answered in court. This is the story of those 18 days, told from the court record.
Results may vary depending on your particular facts and legal circumstances. A mandamus lawsuit asks the court to require a decision. It does not guarantee approval.
Some mandamus stories turn on a single date. This one is about how short the court part can be once someone decides to ask.
Our client is an H-4 spouse from India, living in the United States while their spouse works here on an H-1B visa. In late 2025, they filed Form I-765 with USCIS for an H-4 work permit.
Winter turned to spring, and spring to summer. The case status stayed the same. For an H-4 spouse, a pending work permit means no paycheck of their own and no date to plan around.
By the ninth month, the question was no longer whether the wait was long. It was what the wait was costing.
A federal court doesn’t judge a delay with a stopwatch alone. Under what are known as the TRAC factors, judges also look at what the delay is doing to a person’s welfare and livelihood. And a mandamus lawsuit does not ask the court to approve anything. It asks the court to require a decision.
For H-4 spouses, waiting carries a specific risk. Since October 30, 2025, work permit renewals no longer come with an automatic extension, so a pending application does not protect the right to work past the date on the card. Our client decided to ask a court.
We filed G. v. Edlow in the U.S. District Court for the Eastern District of Texas. The defendant was Joseph B. Edlow, the Director of USCIS, sued in his official capacity. The complaint asked the court, under the federal mandamus law, 28 U.S.C. § 1361, to require USCIS to decide the application.
The court issued the summonses the same day. Three days later, the case was referred to a magistrate judge.
On October 6, the eighteenth day, USCIS approved the work permit. By then, the government had not filed a single document in the case. It never had to explain the delay, because the delay was over.
The same day, with the approval in hand, we filed a notice of voluntary dismissal. It put the government’s silence on the record:
Defendant has neither answered nor filed a motion for summary judgment.
Because the government had not answered, that notice closed the case the day it was filed. No court order was needed, and the case ended weeks before the government’s 60-day deadline to respond.
About nine months at USCIS before we filed. Eighteen days from filing to approval, and a closed case the same day.
The waiting took most of a year. The answer took less than three weeks.
Results may vary depending on your particular facts and legal circumstances. Prior results do not guarantee a similar outcome.
The dismissal notice we filed, with our client’s name, the case number, the court’s division and the judge’s name covered.
Filed October 6, 2026, docket #4
Name and case number covered View documentOur client’s name, the case number, the court’s division and the judge’s name. The text of the notice, its date and the attorney’s signature block stay visible.
Federal court records show a client’s full name. To protect our client’s privacy, we leave out the case name, the case number and the judge’s name, and we don’t link to the docket.
Arif Gozel, Esq.
Managing Attorney, Gozel Law Firm PC
Arif Gozel’s federal practice is built around one problem: immigration cases that have stopped moving. He prepared and filed this lawsuit himself and signed the notice that closed it.
Each case is filed in the federal court that best fits it, not the one nearest to the client, so you don’t need to live near our offices in New Jersey or Virginia.
Send us your receipt date and, if you have one, the end date on your card. Within 24 hours, we’ll tell you whether a federal lawsuit makes sense now, later, or not at all.
Flat $5,000 for a typical case, plus the $405 federal filing fee. Your current immigration attorney keeps handling the application.
Sources: Federal court record, U.S. District Court for the Eastern District of Texas. Case name and number withheld to protect our client’s privacy.
Published November 2026. Last updated November 11, 2026.